IMHO ITS A TIMING OR FORCING CONE ISSUE.......

I WOULD SEND IT IN TO THE MOTHERSHIP FOR CORRECTIVE ACTION.....

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'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.

Hammer bite is a thing. There’s nothing like a 1911a1 or ppk to rend the flesh from the web at the base of your thumb.

It's been mentioned a bunch of times already but I'll mention it again... gun show reloads are not to be trusted!

I'm glad your wife is all right. These things do happen but not often.

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Centennial Every Day

People shoot .22 LR at bowling pins on a regular basis in the .22 caliber division of a bowling pin match. The difference is that the pins are set at the back edge of the table for the .22 LR division.

Whether it's the .22 LR or the centerfire pistol or revolver divisions, the pins must be replaced when they start to get soft and mushy as that is when bullets start bouncing back at you.

I'm in agreement that the issue in this case is probably a timing issue with the revolver. Send it to S&W for repair.

I've noted similar events during concealed carry live fire qualifications, more often with Taurus or other revolvers where quality assurance is spotty. But I've also seen Ruger and S&Ws with timing issues as well.

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I've been hit a couple times by large jacket fragments at practical pistol matches, and an improperly set plate or a cratered or cupped plate is usually the culprit.

Lots of shooters think it's just fine to use mild steel plates, not recognizing that even at 100 yards a hit in one of the previous craters can send substantial fragments of the bullet, or even almost the entire bullet back toward you.

Plates should also be angled downward 20 degrees so that ricochets and fragments are directed into the ground in front of the plate, rather than at the shooter.

Plates should also be placed reasonably far downrange.

Steel challenge rules allow plates as close as 7 yards (21 feet) but while the minimum centerfire cartridges are 9mm Luger and .38 Special, there is no power factor floor in steel challenge and magnum loads are prohibited.

USPSA rules require a 23' minimum, and many match organizers won't have a plate closer than about 30'.

Personally, I don't advise shooters to have plates closer than 15 yards for handguns, and then only when the plate is suitably thick AR500 steel and properly mounted to angle the plate down 20 degrees.

For rifles, most folks agree 100 yards is the minimum, and longer if the impact velocity is still in excess of 3,000 fps at 100 yards. Velocity is what penetrates or damages steel plates.

The same rules apply regarding angling the plate downward and for a plate hung by a chains or belting this can be accomplished by using a short bolt and a spacer nut or two so that it's hung from the end of the bolt so that the plate angles downward.

Thinner 1/4" and 3/8" plates can get bent into a slightly curved shape over time, even if they are not cratered or excessively pitted. You need to take note of this and turn the plates around often enough so that they get beaten equally on each side and don't take on a curved shape. The same applies to pits from high velocity rifle rounds with 1/2" thick AR500 plates. At some point you need to accept the plate has reached 1/2 its useful life and turn it around and use the last half of its useful life.

sgc,
Was someone else also shooting on the range at the same time?
Your wife might have been hit by someone else's fragments.

God bless,
Birdgun